Everywhere I went today I was reading reviews (admittedly mixed) of Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady. The movie portrays Margaret Thatcher with dementia and views her life through a series of flashbacks to various episodes of family life and highlights of her political career. Though I haven’t yet seen it, it sounds like an emotionally charged movie.

In the Maclean’s article, Meryl Streep is quoted as saying:

“I’m interested in old people, I just am. Because I feel myself getting older, and I always have been interested in older people. People who have a big, contentious life behind them, how do they reconcile to the simplicity at the end? To let go of your husband finally, that’s as big a decision as the Falklands.”

‘The simplicity of life at its end’. That sentence really struck me and I thought about it all day. Childhood was simple because children don’t know better and perhaps old age is simple because we do know better. We know what is important and if we’re smart we let go of the things that aren’t so important.

I’m not sure what I’m going to think about this movie. But I’ll definitely go see it – and think about it.